Customizing Numbered Lists in Posts + 3 Examples

From the Compose tab of a Blogger post, we can create numbered lists using the "Numbered List" tool.

A numbered list is achieved through the HTML code of a "ordered list". You don't have to worry about adding the HTML, because the editor does it for you by using this tool. If you go to the HTML tab, you'll see that the list you created appears something like this:

   <ol>
<li>The content of the 1st. element</li>
<li>The content of the 2nd. element</li>
<li>The content of the 3rd. element</li>
<li>The content of the 4th. element</li>
    etc...
  </ol>

This tool will automatically number each element of the list taking an "order", hence the name "ordered lists in HTML". In each element a number is successively generated (from 1 onwards), though you can not see this in the HTML code.

Using ordered lists in posts

Creating numbered lists is very suitable for giving any instructions. It is ideal for cooking blogs where the steps in a recipe has to be numbered, or in those blogs that share tutorials... but can be used in any type of blog that need to number something.

By default, when using this tool, the numbered elements will look like:

1. Nulla tincidunt, neque nec laoreet iaculis, tellus libero sagittis nisl, sed commodo lacus nulla ac sapien. Pellentesque vel magna vitae diam hendrerit bibendum tempus at magna. 
2. Nulla pellentesque egestas sagittis. Cras blandit bibendum ante nec placerat. Nulla volutpat diam non quam suscipit et ornare nisi porttitor. Quisque eget elit nulla, et imperdiet nisi. 
3. Vivamus sit amet nibh vel enim aliquam auctor. Phasellus fringilla eros leo, nec varius lacus. Vestibulum id dolor a nisl venenatis varius in nec enim. Pellentesque feugiat arcu ac purus rhoncus dapibus. 
4. Etiam rutrum quam ac est bibendum cursus. In porttitor nunc odio, vel porttitor nisi. Pellentesque velit est, sodales luctus feugiat et, porta quis lacus. Vivamus non mauris urna, non commodo dui. 

However, we can customize the elements on the list with CSS. To achieve this, we will rely on this interesting tutorial from 456 Berea ST, that explains a technique in which using some key properties of CSS, we could customize both the numbers of each element in the list, also the content of each element.
The trick basically involves canceling the default numbering with "list-style: none", and then use automatic numbering properties: "counter-reset" and "counter-increment". Then the property "content" is added to the index of the counter that is created using the previous two properties.

How to Add Some Amazing Styles to Blogger ordered lists

Simply choose one of the styles below, then copy and paste the CSS code by going to Template > Customize > Advanced > Add CSS.

Some Blogger templates might not allow adding CSS in that location. In that case, for adding the CSS style you need to access the Template's HTML - from your Blogger Dashboard, go to Template > Edit HTML and paste the code just above the ]]></b:skin> tag (press the CTRL + F keys to find it - you might need to click on the arrow to expand the code and after that search it again)


Examples

Here are three examples that I have prepared for those of you who want to customize numbered lists:
 
Style 1

1. Nulla tincidunt, neque nec laoreet iaculis, tellus libero sagittis nisl, sed commodo lacus nulla ac sapien. Pellentesque vel magna vitae diam hendrerit bibendum tempus at magna. 
2. Nulla pellentesque egestas sagittis. Cras blandit bibendum ante nec placerat. Nulla volutpat diam non quam suscipit et ornare nisi porttitor. Quisque eget elit nulla, et imperdiet nisi. 
3. Vivamus sit amet nibh vel enim aliquam auctor. Phasellus fringilla eros leo, nec varius lacus. Vestibulum id dolor a nisl venenatis varius in nec enim. Pellentesque feugiat arcu ac purus rhoncus dapibus. 
4. Etiam rutrum quam ac est bibendum cursus. In porttitor nunc odio, vel porttitor nisi. Pellentesque velit est, sodales luctus feugiat et, porta quis lacus. Vivamus non mauris urna, non commodo dui. 

.post ol{
counter-reset: li;
list-style: none;
*list-style: decimal;
font: 13px 'trebuchet MS', 'lucida sans'; /* font size of each element */
padding: 0;
margin-bottom: 4em;
text-shadow: 0 1px 0 rgba(255,255,255,.5);
font-weight: bold;
}
.post ol li{
position: relative;
display: block;
padding: .4em .4em .4em 4em;
*padding: .4em;
margin: .5em 0;
text-decoration: none;
border-radius: .3em;
transition: all .3s ease-out;
}
.post ol li:hover:before{
transform: rotate(360deg);
}
.post ol li:before{
content: counter(li);
counter-increment: li;
position: absolute;  
left: 10px;
top: 50%;
margin-top: -1.3em;
height: 2em;
width: 2em;
line-height: 2em;
color: #fff; /* text color of numbers */
background: #FA8022; /* background color of numbers */
border: .2em solid #fff; /* border color */
-webkit-box-shadow: 0 8px 5px -7px #888;
-moz-box-shadow: 0 8px 5px -7px #888;
box-shadow: 0 8px 5px -7px #888;
text-align: center;
font-weight: bold;
border-radius: 2em;
transition: all .3s ease-out;
}

Style 2

1. Nulla tincidunt, neque nec laoreet iaculis, tellus libero sagittis nisl, sed commodo lacus nulla ac sapien. Pellentesque vel magna vitae diam hendrerit bibendum tempus at magna. 
2. Nulla pellentesque egestas sagittis. Cras blandit bibendum ante nec placerat. Nulla volutpat diam non quam suscipit et ornare nisi porttitor. Quisque eget elit nulla, et imperdiet nisi. 
3. Vivamus sit amet nibh vel enim aliquam auctor. Phasellus fringilla eros leo, nec varius lacus. Vestibulum id dolor a nisl venenatis varius in nec enim. Pellentesque feugiat arcu ac purus rhoncus dapibus. 
4. Etiam rutrum quam ac est bibendum cursus. In porttitor nunc odio, vel porttitor nisi. Pellentesque velit est, sodales luctus feugiat et, porta quis lacus. Vivamus non mauris urna, non commodo dui. 

.post ol{
counter-reset:li;
list-style: none;
*list-style: decimal;
margin-left:0;
padding-left:0
}
.post ol li{
position:relative;
margin:0 0 20px 15px !important;
padding:4px 5px 4px 10px !important;
list-style:none;
*list-style: decimal;
border-bottom:1px solid #e2e3e2; /* bottom border of each element */
background:#f2f2f2; /* background color of each element */
text-indent:14px;
}
.post ol li:before{
content:counter(li);
counter-increment:li;
position:absolute;
top:-6px;
left:-10px;
font-family:'Oswald', serif;
font-size:14px; /* size of the numbers */
width:20px;
margin:0 0 10px 0;
padding:4px !important;
color:#A5A5A5; /* color of the numbers */
text-align:left;
background:#e2e2e2; /* background color of the numbers */
text-indent:6px;
text-shadow: 1px 3px 2px #fff;
}
.post ol li:after{
content:"";
position:absolute;
top:-5px;
left:17px;
width: 0px;
height: 0px;
border-style: solid;
border-width: 5px 0 0 5px;
border-color: transparent transparent transparent #aeaeae; /* color of the triangle behind */
}

Style 3

1. Nulla tincidunt, neque nec laoreet iaculis, tellus libero sagittis nisl, sed commodo lacus nulla ac sapien. Pellentesque vel magna vitae diam hendrerit bibendum tempus at magna. 
2. Nulla pellentesque egestas sagittis. Cras blandit bibendum ante nec placerat. Nulla volutpat diam non quam suscipit et ornare nisi porttitor. Quisque eget elit nulla, et imperdiet nisi. 
3. Vivamus sit amet nibh vel enim aliquam auctor. Phasellus fringilla eros leo, nec varius lacus. Vestibulum id dolor a nisl venenatis varius in nec enim. Pellentesque feugiat arcu ac purus rhoncus dapibus. 
4. Etiam rutrum quam ac est bibendum cursus. In porttitor nunc odio, vel porttitor nisi. Pellentesque velit est, sodales luctus feugiat et, porta quis lacus. Vivamus non mauris urna, non commodo dui. 

.post ol{
counter-reset: li;
list-style: none;
*list-style: decimal;
padding: 0;
margin-bottom: 4em;
font: 13px 'trebuchet MS', 'lucida sans'; /* font size of each element */
text-shadow: 0 1px 0 rgba(255,255,255,.5);
}
.post ol li{
position: relative;
display: block;
padding: .4em .4em .4em .8em;
*padding: .4em;
margin: .5em 0 .5em 4.5em;
text-decoration: none;
}
.post ol li:before{
content: counter(li);
counter-increment: li;
position: absolute;  
left: -30px;
top: 50%;
margin-top: -1em;
background: #bada55; /* background color of the numbers */
height: 2em;
width: 2em;
line-height: 2em;
text-align: center;
font-weight: bold;
}
.post ol li:after{
position: absolute;
content: '';
left: -5px;
margin-top: -.7em;  
top: 50%;
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-top: 8px solid transparent;
border-bottom: 8px solid transparent;
border-left:8px solid #bada55; /* background color of the right arrow*/
}

Note: In blue are highlighted the values that can be edited in the CSS of these three examples, and added some comments highlighted in /* green */, so that you can know what each thing does.

Compatibility:

This will work in all browsers including IE8 - in the case of Internet Explorer 7, the number' styles will not be seen as it does not support the :before or :after pseudo-elements. However, I have added a line in the CSS that's specific for that browser and will bring up the default numbering of the ordered list.

Hopefully this will be useful for you ;)

4 Different Styles For the Popular Posts Widget

Blogger allows us to easily add a "Popular Posts" widget, that we select from its list of gadgets, and we can do that by going to the "Layout" of our Blog.

This gadget, as the name implies, shows which are the most visited blog posts, and you can set it to display the info you want in four possible combinations: (1) only the title of the post, (2) a thumbnail of the image and the post title, (3) post title with a summary, and (4) post title with a thumbnail and a post snippet.

This is an element that you shouldn't miss in your blog because it encourages your visitors to navigate through your content and that can result in higher income if you're monetizing your blog because it would generate an increase in the number of pages visited, and in turn, can attract the users' interest to subscribe to the blog and to read interesting content.

Preliminary steps: Add the gadget, if you haven't done it yet.

1. Select the "Layout" tab and add the "Popular Posts" gadget in that part of your blog you want to appear, such as in your sidebar, by clicking on "Add a Gadget".

2. Configure the widget to show only the post titles. You can do this by clicking on the "image thumbnail" and "snippet" checkboxes, as shown in the following image.

3. After configuring the widget, save the changes by clicking on Save, and then Save arrangement.

How to add the CSS to create the style of the Popular Posts widget

1. Choose a style, then copy the CSS that appears below the image that shows the style.

2. Select the "Template" tab, then click on Customize > Advanced > Add CSS and then paste the CSS style that you like the most.

3. Once you add the CSS, Save changes by clicking on the "Apply to Blog" button.

Note: Some Blogger templates might not allow adding CSS in that location. In that case, for adding the CSS style you need to access the Template's HTML - from your Blogger Dashboard, go to Template > Edit HTML and paste the code just above the ]]></b:skin> tag (press the CTRL + F keys to find it - you might need to click on the arrow to expand the code and after that search it again)

And that's it! You've already customized the popular posts widget when it shows only post titles.

Styles

Here is the CSS of each style, just choose the one you like the best and put it on your blog. You can see each of these styles in action in the following demo blog:

http://demo-blog343.blogspot.com

Style 1:

#PopularPosts1 h2{
padding:7px 0 3px 0;
width:100%;
margin-bottom:10px;
font-size:1.3em;
text-indent:-12px;
font-size:18px;
text-align:center;
color: #757575; /* Color of the widget's title */
}
#PopularPosts1 ul{
list-style:none;
counter-reset:li;
padding:8px 0px 1px;
left:-7px;
width:290px;
}
#PopularPosts1 li{
position:relative;
margin:0 0 10px 0;
padding: 3px 2px 0 17px;
left:-5px;
width:285px;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li{
background: #eee;
position: relative;
display: block;
padding: .4em .2em .4em 2em;
*padding: .2em;
margin: .5em 0;
background: #ddd;
text-decoration: none;
border-radius: .3em;
transition: all .3s ease-out;  
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:before{
content: counter(li);
counter-increment: li;
position: absolute;
top: 50%;
margin: -1.3em;
height: 2em;
width: 2em;
line-height: 2em;
font-size: 15px;
color: #fff; /* text color of numbers */
background: #FB8835; /* background color of numbers */
border: .2em solid #fff; /* border color */
-webkit-box-shadow: 0 8px 5px -7px #888;
-moz-box-shadow: 0 8px 5px -7px #888;
box-shadow: 0 8px 5px -7px #888;
text-align: center;
font-weight: bold;
border-radius: 2em;
position: absolute;  
left: 0;
transition: all .3s ease-out;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:hover{
background: #eee;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:hover:before{
transform: rotate(360deg);  
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li a{
font: 14px Georgia, serif; /* font size of post titles */
text-shadow: 0 -1px 2px #fff;
color: #444;
display:block;
min-height:25px;
text-decoration:none;
text-transform: uppercase;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li a:hover{
color: #444;
}

Style 2:

#PopularPosts1 h2{
position:relative;
padding:8px 10px 6px 10px;
width:100%;
margin-bottom: 5px;
font-size:17px;
color:#757575; /* Color of the widget's title */
text-align:left;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul{
list-style:none;
counter-reset:li;
padding:10px;
left:-8px;
width:100%;
}
#PopularPosts1 li{ /* Styles of each element */
width:100%;
position:relative;
left:0;
margin:0 0 1px 12px;
padding:4px 5px;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:before{
content: counter(li);
counter-increment: li;
position: absolute;
left: -30px;
top: 50%;
margin-top: -13px;
background: #8E8E8E; /* background color of the numbers */
height: 1.9em;
width: 2em;
line-height: 2em;
text-align: center;
font-weight: bold;
color: #fff;
font-size: 14px;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:after{
position: absolute;
content: '';
left: -2px;
margin-top: -.7em;
top: 50%;
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-top: 8px solid transparent;
border-bottom: 8px solid transparent;
border-left:10px solid #8E8E8E; /* background color of the right arrow*/
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li a{
color: #444;
text-decoration: none;  
font-size:15px;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li {
position: relative;
display: block;
padding: .4em .4em .4em .8em;
*padding: .4em;
margin: .5em 0 .5em 0.4em;
background: #ddd;
transition: all .3s ease-out;
text-decoration:none;
transition: all .1s ease-in-out;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:hover{
background: #eee; /* Background color on mouseover */
}  
#PopularPosts1 ul li a:hover{
color:#444; /* Link color on mouseover */
margin-left:3px;
}

Style 3:

#PopularPosts1 h2{
position:relative;
right:-2px;
padding:8px 63px 6px 17px;
width:100%;
margin:0;
font-size:16px;
background:#4F4F4F; /* Background color */
color:#f2f2f2; /* Color of the widget's title */
text-align:left;
text-indent:18px;
}
#PopularPosts1 h2:before{
position:absolute;
content:"";
top:36px;
right:0px;
width: 0px;
height: 0px;
border-bottom:12px outset transparent;
border-left:12px solid #000000;
}
#PopularPosts1 h2:after{
position:absolute;
content:"";
top:-6px;
left:-5px;
width: 0px;
height: 0px;
border-bottom:24px outset transparent;
border-top:24px outset transparent;
border-left:24px solid #ffffff; /* Arrow background color on the left */
}
#PopularPosts1 ul{
list-style:none;
counter-reset:li;
padding:10px;
left:-8px;
width:100%;
}
#PopularPosts1 li{
width:100%;
position:relative;
left:0;
margin:7px 0 16px 12px;
padding:10px  4px 0 5px;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:before{
content:counter(li);
counter-increment:li;
position:absolute;
top:-2px;
left:-20px;
font-size:35px;
width:20px;
color:#888888;
}

#PopularPosts1 ul li a{
display:block;
font-size:16px; /* Font size of the links */
color: #666; /* Color of the links */
text-decoration:none;
transition: all .1s ease-in-out;font-weight: bold;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li a:hover{
color:#3366FF;
margin-left:3px;
}

Style 4:

#PopularPosts1 h2{
padding:8px 10px 3px 0;
width:100%;
margin:0;
font-size:16px;
position:relative;
left:-20px;
display:block;
border-bottom:2px solid #ccc;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul{
list-style:none;
counter-reset:li;
padding:10px;
width:100%;
}
#PopularPosts1 li{ /* Styles of each element */
width:100%;
position:relative;
left:0;
margin:0 0 6px 10px;
padding:4px 5px;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li:before{ /* Style of the numbers */
content:counter(li);
counter-increment:li;
position:absolute;
top:3px;
left:-39px;
font-size:21px;
width:28px;
height:28px;
border-radius: 50%;
color:#777; /* Text color */
border: 2px solid #ddd; /* Rounded border color */
padding:0;
text-indent:9px;
}
#PopularPosts1 ul li a{
display:block;
position:relative;
left:-45px;
width:100%;
margin:0;
min-height:28px;
padding: 5px 3px 3px 39px;
color:#333; /* color of the links */
text-decoration:none;
font-size:14px; /* Font size of the links */
font-style: italic;

}
#PopularPosts1 ul li a:hover{
color:#3366ff;
margin-left:3px;
}

Final Notes

All the CSS is valid. I just have to mention that the numbering is not visible in Internet Explorer 7, since that version of the browser does not support properties that make the numbers appear. For example in the 4th style, the circles look squared in IE8 and earlier versions since, these versions do not support a property that makes them look as circles.

What is Creative-Kit, and how to use it

This article describes Creative Kit, which was a photo-editing tool for enhancing pictures in your Picasa-web and Google+ albums.

A little history: Picasa, Picnik and Creative Kit

In 2002, a company called Lifescape created a program called Picasa, which people could use to manage photos on their PC.

Google purchased this in 2004 and then integrated it with web-storage, linked to a person's Google account, to make Picasa-web-albums: see Understanding Picasa and Picasa-web-albums for more information about how they work together with Blogger.

Picasa has some photo-editing functions (cropping, red-eye removal, sharpening, lightening, making collages, etc).  Useful, far easier to use than Photoshop - but without features that some people wanted. So in 2010, Google integrated a photo-editing tool from Picnik, a small company that was offering a subscription-based photo hosting and editing service.

Picnik's editor did some cooler things than Picasa, (applying visual effects, watermarks, etc).   The tool  had some serious fans, and a quirky culture which saw them show messages like "packing the lunch" "watching the flowers", "chasing butterflys" while Picnik was loading.  The type of messages that are funny the first few times, but quickly get tedious. And people using Picnik via Piscasa-web-albums often found that it was very slow.

In 2012:

• Picnik announced that they were closing down their separate photo hosting service, and moving the product to Google+.

• Google's announced that they were were closing Picnik, and using Picnik's engineers to “continue creating photo-editing magic across Google products."   (ref:  closure announcement).

Today, the original Picnik photo-hosting-and-editing service is most definitely closed.

The Picnik photo editor has been either replaced with or re-badged as "Creative Kit", and is available through Google+.  They may have intended to make it available through Picasa-web-albums too - but as I noted in previously, this feature isn't working. Possibly this is about selling additional storage space:   Picasa-web-albums are available to any Google account, while Google+ Photos is only available to named individuals.   So each person can have lots of Google / Picasa accounts (with free storage on each one), but only one account Google+ account.

How to access Creative Kit

To start creative Kit, so you can edit a photo with it:

• Go to Google+, and log in to your Google account that has Google-Plus enabled.
• Go to your Photos page (which may be on the left-sidebar, or under the More tab on the left sidebar if your screen is small)
  

• Go into an album, and open the photo you want to edit.
• On the menu at the top of the screen, click the Edit button.

This opens the photo inside a window with photo-editing tools. The screen just looks like another set of options within Google-Plus, but actually you are now inside Creative Kit, and you can use it to edit your photo.

When you are finished editing, choose the Save button from the top-left hand side. This give you an option to apply your changes to the current file, or to save a new copy of the file.

• If you choose Replace then any places (eg blog-posts) that link to the existing photo will now link to the edited photo.

• If you choose Save a new copy then your existing file is not changed and a new copy of the file will be made in the same folder as the existing one but with a slightly different name.

If you upload pictures into your blog-posts inside Blogger, then the picture files are stored in Picasa-web-albums LINK. If you have Google+ enabled for your account, then you can access these photos directly through either Picasa-web-albums or through Google+, even if you have not linked your blog and your Google+ profile. So you can use the Creative-kit method of editing these pictures, even if you didn't load them via Google+.

What features are available in Creative Kit

At one point Picnik used a "fremium" approach: Basic features were free for everyone to use for free, while people needed to sign up and pay a subscription to use the Premium ones. This has changed, though,and now features are are all free.

At the time of writing, the features include:

Basics

• Black and White
• Bocal B&W
• Boost
• Soften

Camera

• Lomo-ish
• Holga-ish
• HRD-ish
• CinemaScope
• Orton-ish
• 1960s

Colours

• Tint
• Vibrance
• Duo-Tone
• Heat Map 2.0
• Cross-Process

Touchup

• Blemish Fix
• Shine-be-Gone
• Airbrush
• Sunless Tan

Google Plus Exclusives

• Daguerreotype
• Reala 400
• Green Fade
• Magenta Fade
• Polaroid* Plus
• Sun Aged

Troubleshooting / Where to get help

Creative Kit uses Adobe Flash Player. If Creative Kit doesn't work inside Google+, try installing a newer version of Flash Player.

If that doesn't help, try:

• Clearing your cache

• Clearing Flash shared objects
  These are data files are created by the Creative Kit on your computer, like cookies.  To clear them, go to Abobe's Flash Player help web site.
  The Settings Manager that you see is not just an image; it's the actual Flash Player Settings Manager. Scroll through the list of sites and select www.picnik.com and www.gstatic.com.
  
  Click the Delete Website button for each, and confirm the deletion.
  
  Open the Global Storage Settings Panel. Check both of the following boxes:
  - Allow third-party Flash content to store data on your computer.
  - Store common Flash components to reduce download times.
  
  Once you've cleared your local shared objects, clear your browser cache again.
  

• Using a different browser, eg Chrome or Firefox.

• Disabling ad-blocker or flash-blocking extensions

For more assistance, there is a Creative Kit help-centre in Google:
https://plus.google.com/100432630524345907101#100432630524345907101/posts

Is Creative Kit just Picnik with a new name?

Most probably: the controls and features are very similar, and the press-releases seem to tie up. There is one screen that names both while the photo-editor is loading in Google+>Pictures.

But on the other hand there's no official confirmation either, and there are some product differences. It's possible that Google's engineers were simply inspired by the former Picnik colleagues to create similar controls, and that the underlying photo-editing tool is different. Who knows.

What we do know is that many of the much-loved Picnik features are available in Creative-Kit, provided you're willing to load your photos to a Google+ account.

TL;DR

You can edit a photo in Creative Kit by uploading it to your Google+ account, then choosing the Edit button when you are viewing it.

This may be the same Picnik photo editor that was available in Picasa-web-albums until 2012. Or it may not. Either way it lets you crop, re-colour, apply lots of filters etc for free.

Don't want to put your photos into Google+? Bad luck, there's no other way to use Creative Kit / Picnik on them at the moment. Find another on-line editor instead.

Update

In mid 2013, Google Plus replaced CreateKit with a new photo editor (which only works on computers running the Chrome web-browser).    Therefore it is no longer possible to use Creative Kit. 

Picasa-web-albums still has  a link to Creative Kit.   But this does not work, and PWA now has other options for editing pictures that have been uploaded to it via Blogger or otherwise.

---

Related Articles

Creative-kit works with pictures accessed through Google+, but not Picasa-web-albums

Adding a picture to a blog post

Introducing Picasa vs Picasa-web-albums

Adding a Youtube Video in the Background of a Blogger blog

Some of you might have wondered how to put a video to play in the blog's background, so that instead of having just a color or an image, to have a video. We can do this thanks to the jQuery plugin Tubular that lets you use a YouTube video as a background of a web page.

Although the result can be very original and attractive, I must say it has three drawbacks: they can not be silenced, if the video has ads, they will also appear, and it can slow the loading time of the blog, so if anyone wants to use it, may consider putting it only on special occasions, or on blogs that load very quickly.
Also it can be done in HTML5, the problem with this method is that you need to load the video in 3 different formats (.mp4, .webm and .ovg) along with a picture for browsers that do not support them, so this YouTube option seems more practical to me, despite the drawbacks.

You can see it working on this demo blog

Steps 

1. The first step is to just above the </head> tag, this script:

<script src='http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.10.2/jquery.min.js' type='text/javascript'/>

<script type='text/javascript'>
//<![CDATA[
/* jQuery tubular plugin
|* by Sean McCambridge
|* http://www.seanmccambridge.com/tubular
|* Copyright 2012
|* licensed under the MIT License
|* Enjoy.
|*
|* Thanks,
|* Sean */

var videoWidth = 853;
var videoRatio = 16/9;
var defaultDiv = 'wrapper-video';

jQuery.fn.tubular = function(videoId,wrapperId) {
wrapperId = (typeof(wrapperId) == undefined) ? 'wrapper-video' : wrapperId;
t = setTimeout("resizePlayer()",1000);

jQuery('html,body').css('height','100%');
jQuery('body').prepend('<div id="yt-container" style="overflow: hidden; position: fixed; z-index: 1;"><div id="ytapiplayer">You need Flash player 8+ and JavaScript enabled to view this video.</div></div><div id="video-cover" style="position: fixed; width: 100%; height: 100%; z-index: 2;"></div>');
jQuery('#' + wrapperId).css({position: 'relative', 'z-index': 99});

var ytplayer = 0;
var pageWidth = 0;
var pageHeight = 0;
var videoHeight = videoWidth / videoRatio;
var duration;

var iframe = '<iframe id="myytplayer" width="' + videoWidth + '" height="' + videoHeight + '" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/' + videoId + '?autoplay=1&controls=0&modestbranding=1&showinfo=0&hd=1&iv_load_policy=3&version=3&wmode=transparent&loop=1&playlist=' + videoId + '" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>';

jQuery('#ytapiplayer').html(iframe);
jQuery(window).resize(function() {
resizePlayer();
});
return this;
}

function onYouTubePlayerReady(playerId) {
ytplayer = document.getElementById("myytplayer");
ytplayer.setPlaybackQuality('medium');
ytplayer.mute();
}

function resizePlayer() {
var newWidth = jQuery(window).width();
var newHeight = jQuery(window).height();
jQuery('#yt-container, #video-cover').width(newWidth).height(newHeight);
if (newHeight > newWidth / videoRatio) {
newWidth = newHeight * videoRatio;
}
jQuery('#myytplayer').width(newWidth).height(newWidth/videoRatio);
}

//]]>
</script>

And this one too:

<script type='text/javascript'>
//<![CDATA[
$().ready(function() {
$('body').tubular('61BLn00AN_w','wrapper-video');
});
//]]>
</script>

2. Then locate the <body> tag (CTRL + F)
Or if you are using a template from Template Designer, find this line:

<body expr:class='&quot;loading&quot; + data:blog.mobileClass'>

3. Under either of these two, add this:

<div id='wrapper-video'>

4. Now search for the </body> tag, and before it put this:

</div>

Save the changes and that's it. In red you must put the ID of Youtube video, the ID are the characters that appear at the end of the URL:

Remember: There is no option to mute, so if you don't want to have sound as in the demo blog, you have to choose a video that has no sound. I also recommend using a video in HD in case you don't want any black parts to show around it.

If you are using jQuery, remove other versions that you have to avoid duplication and have problems.

Author | jQuery Tubular

Create a Background Slideshow for Blogger

In the previous post we saw how to make the blog's background fill the screen regardless of the resolution of the monitor. The method that we'll use now with jQuery is a plugin called BackStretch which also has the option of creating a slideshow of pictures as a blog wallpaper without losing the property of adjusting to the width and height of the screen.

What we will do in this entry is just this, try to make the blog's background to have some images that are changing, all with fade effect between each transition.
You can see an example in this demo blog.

To put this slideshow in the blog's background, just go to Template - Edit HTML and before </head> add the following code:

<script src='http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.10.2/jquery.min.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<script>
//<![CDATA[
/*
* jQuery Backstretch
* Version 1.2.8
* http://srobbin.com/jquery-plugins/jquery-backstretch/
* Add a dynamically-resized background image to the page
* Copyright (c) 2012 Scott Robbin (srobbin.com)
* Licensed under the MIT license
* https://raw.github.com/srobbin/jquery-backstretch/master/LICENSE.txt
*/
;(function(a){a.backstretch=function(p,b,l){function s(){if(p){var b;0==c.length?c=a("<div />").attr("id","backstretch").css({left:0,top:0,position:m?"fixed":"absolute",overflow:"hidden",zIndex:-999999,margin:0,padding:0,height:"100%",width:"100%"}):c.find("img").addClass("deleteable");b=a("<img />").css({position:"absolute",display:"none",margin:0,padding:0,border:"none",zIndex:-999999,maxWidth:"none"}).bind("load",function(d){var b=a(this),e;b.css({width:"auto",height:"auto"});e=this.width||a(d.target).width();d=this.height||a(d.target).height();n=e/d;q();b.fadeIn(g.speed,function(){c.find(".deleteable").remove();"function"==typeof l&&l()})}).appendTo(c);0==a("body #backstretch").length&&(0===a(window).scrollTop()&&window.scrollTo(0,0),a("body").append(c));c.data("settings",g);b.attr("src",p);a(window).unbind("resize.backstretch").bind("resize.backstretch",function(){"onorientationchange"in window&&window.pageYOffset===0&&window.scrollTo(0,1);q()})}}function q(){try{j={left:0,top:0},rootWidth=h=o.width(),rootHeight=r?window.innerHeight:o.height(),f=h/n,f>=rootHeight?(k=(f-rootHeight)/2,g.centeredY&&(j.top="-"+k+"px")):(f=rootHeight,h=f*n,k=(h-rootWidth)/2,g.centeredX&&(j.left="-"+k+"px")),c.css({width:rootWidth,height:rootHeight}).find("img:not(.deleteable)").css({width:h,height:f}).css(j)}catch(a){}}var t={centeredX:!0,centeredY:!0,speed:0},c=a("#backstretch"),g=c.data("settings")||t;c.data("settings");var o,m,r,n,h,f,k,j;b&&"object"==typeof b&&a.extend(g,b);b&&"function"==typeof b&&(l=b);a(document).ready(function(){var b=window,d=navigator.userAgent,c=navigator.platform,e=d.match(/AppleWebKit\/([0-9]+)/),e=!!e&&e[1],f=d.match(/Fennec\/([0-9]+)/),f=!!f&&f[1],g=d.match(/Opera Mobi\/([0-9]+)/),h=!!g&&g[1],i=d.match(/MSIE ([0-9]+)/),i=!!i&&i[1];o=(m=!((-1<c.indexOf("iPhone")||-1<c.indexOf("iPad")||-1<c.indexOf("iPod"))&&e&&534>e||b.operamini&&"[object OperaMini]"==={}.toString.call(b.operamini)||g&&7458>h||-1<d.indexOf("Android")&&e&&533>e||f&&6>f||"palmGetResource"in window&&e&&534>e||-1<d.indexOf("MeeGo")&&-1<d.indexOf("NokiaBrowser/8.5.0")||i&&6>=i))?a(window):a(document);r=m&&window.innerHeight;s()});return this}})(jQuery);
//]]>
</script>

<script>
//<![CDATA[
var images = [
 "Image URL",
 "Image URL",
 "Image URL",
 "Image URL",
 "Image URL",
  ];

  $(images).each(function(){
 $('<img/>')[0].src = this;
  });
  var index = 0;
$.backstretch(images[index], {speed: 1000});
  var slideshow = setInterval(function() {
  index = (index >= images.length - 1) ? 0 : index + 1;
    $.backstretch(images[index]);
  }, 5000);
//]]>
</script>

Here add the URLs of the images that will be the background of your blog.
If you would like to add more pictures, just add after the var images = [ another line like this:

 "Image URL",

The images will be changing in the order you have added them, if you want these to appear in a random order, then change the second part of the code with this:

<script>
//<![CDATA[
var images=new Array();
images[ 1 ]="Image URL";
images[ 2 ]="Image URL";
images[ 3 ]="Image URL";
images[ 4 ]="Image URL";
images[ 5 ]="Image URL";

  Array.prototype.shuffle = function() {
  var len = this.length;
  var i = len;
  while (i--) {
  var p = parseInt(Math.random()*len);
  var t = this[i];
  this[i] = this[p];
  this[p] = t;
  }
};

  images.shuffle();
  $(images).each(function(){
 $('<img/>')[0].src = this;
  });
  var index = 0;
$.backstretch(images[index], {speed: 1000});
  var slideshow = setInterval(function() {
  index = (index >= images.length - 1) ? 0 : index + 1;
    $.backstretch(images[index]);
  }, 5000);
//]]>
</script>

You can also add more pictures by adding a line like this:

images[ 6 ]="Image URL";

But you will see that in this case there are some consecutive numbers in blue, so if you add another such as 6, then the next one should be 7, etc..

In both cases you can change the duration of each image which is in the 5000 value that is at the end of the script.
The advantage of this slideshow in the blog's background is that images are automatically resized to the size of the monitor, so that, no matter of the resolution, it should look good.

It is worth remembering that if you are using Scriptaculous, you have to make some changes, and if you already use jQuery, should leave only one version.

Author page | Backstretch